Reuters World News Summary: Trump says Iran 'playing with fire' with uranium enrichment; EU leaders seek to break stalemate on top jobs

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Panama's new president takes office, pledges end to corruption

Panama's new President Laurentino "Nito" Cortizo vowed to curb corruption and close the wealth gap in the isthmus nation at his swearing-in ceremony on Monday. U.S.-educated political veteran Cortizo, 66, of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), won the May election by just over two percentage points, the closest presidential race in decades. During his five-year term he will have to balance relations with China and the United States, on top of domestic issues.

Hong Kong police fire tear gas in running battles after protesters trash legislature

Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters, some of whom had stormed and ransacked the city's legislature hours earlier on the anniversary of the city's 1997 return to Chinese rule. Police arrived in a convoy of buses near midnight as about 1,000 protesters, furious at a proposed law that would allow extraditions to China, were gathered around the council building in the former British colony's financial district in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.

EU leaders seek to break stalemate on top jobs

The divided European Union's 28 national leaders were to spend a third consecutive day on Tuesday arm-wrestling over who should hold the bloc's most prominent jobs until nearly 2025. Some leaders dozed off from exhaustion during talks overnight into Monday that ended with Italy and ex-communist eastern states blocking socialist Dutchman Frans Timmermans from running the EU's executive Commission.

Hundreds gather across Nile from Khartoum after deadly clashes

Hundreds of people gathered in the Sudanese city of Omdurman across the River Nile from Khartoum on Monday to protest against the ruling military a day after at least seven people died in clashes between security services and protesters. Members of the crowd told Reuters they came out after residents found the bodies of three young men riddled with bullets and dressed in civilian clothes close to the river early in the morning.

Trump says Iran 'playing with fire' with uranium enrichment

Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, drawing a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Tehran was "playing with fire." Tehran's announcement marked its first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the move was not a violation of the accord, arguing that Iran was exercising its right to respond to the U.S. walkout.

Brazil Senate inquiry into Vale dam accident recommends 14 indictments

A Brazilian Senate inquiry into the collapse of a Vale dam that killed nearly 250 people will recommend indictments of 14 people, including Vale executives, according to Brazil's official news service, Agencia Brasil, on Monday. Findings from the inquiry, which took 120 days and 18 public hearings, were expected to be presented on Tuesday, the report said. Senators will vote whether to approve the recommendations, probably in a week, it said.

Venezuelan government says expelled German ambassador may return

The Venezuelan foreign ministry said on Monday it had agreed to the return of the German ambassador whom President Nicolas Maduro's government expelled in March after he had gone to Caracas airport to greet opposition leader Juan Guaido. Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement that Ambassador Daniel Kriener would return to Venezuela with the German government's permission, in the context of a process "to normalize the diplomatic relations between both states."

Six killed, 105 wounded in Taliban attack in Kabul

Taliban Islamist fighters killed six people and wounded 105 others by blowing up a truck bomb at morning rush hour near an Afghan Defence Ministry compound in Kabul on Monday. The attack, which ended a period of relative calm in the capital, came as U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad held a seventh round of peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar, aimed at bringing the 18-year-old war to an end.

German migrant rescue ship captain goes before Italian court

The German captain of a charity rescue ship appeared before a court in Sicily on Monday after she was arrested for forcing her way into an Italian port carrying migrants she had rescued off the Libyan coast. The initial hearing in the city of Agrigento was meant to decide whether Carola Rackete, 31, should remain under house arrest or be freed as the investigation continues into her contested rescue mission.

North Korea upbeat on Trump-Kim surprise meeting as a chance to push nuclear talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed at their meeting on Sunday to push forward dialogue for making a new breakthrough in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, North Korean state media said on Monday. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea on Sunday when he met Kim in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks.